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Amy Winehouse: A family portrait at the Jewish Museum in Camden!


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#91 Cecilia

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Posted 18 December 2013 - 11:55 PM

I don't know if there are any members from Austria on the forum, but the exhibition is going to Vienna in the new year! It's opening at the Vienna jewish museum in march. Here's a link to the news (in german): http://orf.at/stories/2210890

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#92 BeehiveQueen

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Posted 19 December 2013 - 02:34 AM

That is very exciting! Glad to see Amy is on tour again and fans can find a new way to connect with her spirit.

#93 Miss Mermaid

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Posted 19 December 2013 - 03:30 PM

That is fantastic!

Her family are doing a great job of keeping her memory alive.

Her Father has got that right x

#94 Birdieava

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Posted 19 December 2013 - 04:03 PM

these are great news! more and more fans worldwide can get close to Amy!

i was reading an older page, and found this blog.. if you havent read it, i recommend it.
its a very nice review by one of our members.

maybe the exhibit will come to a museum near you! who knows? im keeping my fingers crossed!!

My review... http://tarahanks.com...amily-portrait/


"I must be a mermaid. I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living."

- Anais Nin 


#95 Cecilia

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Posted 07 March 2014 - 11:21 AM

Just a reminder for fans in Austria that the exhibition opens at the Jewish Museum on the Judenplatz in Vienna this coming Tuesday (11 march) and runs until 20 August, lots of time to visit! Entry is 10 euros.

http://www.jmw.at/en...family-portrait

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#96 Cecilia

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Posted 17 March 2014 - 10:29 AM

Someone uploaded a nice series pictures from the exhibition in Vienna onto flickr, well worth checking out. Here are a few:

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For the full set in Higher Quality, go to

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#97 amylove

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Posted 15 October 2014 - 05:43 PM

It's also going to be at the Museum of the Jewish People on Oct 19 through May 7th 2015

 

http://www.jpost.com...ish-girl-378842


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#98 amylove

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Posted 19 October 2014 - 04:37 AM

Amy Winehouse: what it's like to truly miss someone's voice

Three years after Jewish artist's tragic death, tribute exhibition opens in Israel following London premiere

 

Amy Winehouse never played in Tel Aviv but she’s finally here in spirit. Three years after her tragic death at the age of 27, the “Amy Winehouse - A Family Portrait” exhibition opened in Israel following its premiere installation at the Jewish Museum in London last year. The exhibition is the brainchild of Amy’s older brother, Alex Winehouse. Steering clear from “Rise and Fall” clichés, he wished to focus on Amy’s childhood and adolescence, alongside the family’s London heritage.

 

Alex argues that despite being the most famous family member, Amy was not necessarily the central figure. Their sibling rivalry is indeed undeniable as Alex confesses that he did not care for his baby sister at first and jokingly accuses Amy of stealing some of his favorite records. Rare family photos do offer a glimpse of a regular Jewish family, yet this mischievous big-eyed girl, who dreams of being a famous singer, is by far the most captivating one.

 

Although Alex Winehouse did not envision this exhibition as “a shrine or memorial”, there’s a bounty of Amy memorabilia to be admired: her 2012 Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo (singing “Body and Soul” with Tony Bennett was Amy’s final recording, released posthumously), a customized pink bowling jacket, the dress she wore for the 2008 Glastonbury Festival (a notorious gig during which she attacked a fan), her Regal Guitar and countless backstage passes she was handed throughout the years.

 

Such a lively exhibition is still considered a rarity at Tel Aviv’s Beit Hatfutsot - the Museum of the Jewish People. By hosting “Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait”, it hopes to rebrand itself and no longer be regarded as a dreaded school trip destination for many Israeli students. “We now strive to provide a different take on Jewish life and history instead of presenting it as just one agonizing tale of pogroms,” BH’s Chief Curator, Orit Shaham-Gover, told i24news. “Amy’s story is an example of how immigrant Jews also thrived, assimilated and reached the peak of excellence in all walks of life. Although Amy’s personal life story did not include a particularly happy ending, we can still grasp it as an optimistic aspect of modern Jewish life. We want to break free from the Ghetto mentality which is constantly nurtured here.”

 

Unlike Leonard Cohen or Bob Dylan, Winehouse did not include any religious themes in her songs and was never hailed as a great Jewish artist. Is Winehouse on the verge of becoming a Jewish icon? Shaham-Gover believes that’s not the case. “The key question here is how Amy viewed herself, and she was very much attached to Jewish life and culture. We see photos of Amy celebrating the Jewish holidays alongside her family. We see the copy of ‘The Book of Jewish Food’, which Amy’s brother bought her when she aspired to make chicken soup like her grandmother did, and so forth,” Shaham-Gover explains.

 

“Amy’s songs contained a great amount of sadness. It somewhat contradicted her seemingly happy childhood and warm and loving family, which we learn about in this exhibition. Perhaps that contradiction was the Jewish element in her work.”

 

“Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait” is as much about London as it is about Judaism or precious family moments. The singer’s London roots can be traced to 1890, when her great, great grandfather, Harris Winehouse, arrived from Minsk en route to New York. Like many of his fellow Jewish immigrants, he stayed in London. Amy’s father and grandfather were both London cabbies, which might explain her admitted affection for roaming the city’s streets as a young girl and getting by on her own in search of London’s yet unknown pleasure spots. The exhibit features a detailed map of all of Amy’s favorite Camden hangouts and childhood homes. It is guaranteed to be useful for anyone staging “Amy Walks” tours around town. Clearly, Amy’s recently unveiled life-size statue in Camden Market should be a great starting point for that matter.

 

Watching Amy’s high school performances and exploring her personal belongings is exhilarating, once you overcome the discomfort of witnessing such promising talent as yet unaware of the tribulations which lied ahead. Winehouse is still revered by many for giving a brilliant current and subversive twist to all of her vintage inspirations - be it fashion or music. However, her singing is barely heard in this exhibition. A side room projects a 2006 TV performance of her bleak hit “Back to Black,” while in the main hall echo the tunes featured on an old playlist Amy compiled. Setting music as a mere background is what makes “Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait” a moving tribute. You will find there a suitcase full of old snapshots and then you’ll truly realize what it means to miss someone’s voice.

 

http://www.i24news.t...house-in-israel


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#99 Uno

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Posted 29 October 2014 - 01:04 AM

Hidden treasures: A shrine to Amy Winehouse
Oct. 28, 2014

While uncharacteristic in terms of usual Beit Hatfutsot fare, the new show focusing on the late Jewish British superstar-singer shows that the museum is not so stodgy after all.


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A picture of Amy Winehouse from the exhibition. Photo by Courtesy of Charles Moriarty


“Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait,” an exhibition originally curated with the assistance of the late singer’s brother and sister-in-law at the Jewish Museum London, has relocated, almost intact, to Tel Aviv.

In addition to the fact that Winehouse, who died from alcohol poisoning at age 27 in 2011, has won pride of place in terms of London’s Jewish cultural heritage, she was also a superstar who scooped up five Grammy Awards on a single night. Posthumously, her “Back to Black” album became the 21st-century’s bestselling album in Britain, at least for a time.

In anticipation of exceptional interest in the exhibit here, too, Beit Hatfutsot has also arranged for extended hours for the show, which is on through May 1 of next year.

It has created a real media buzz, and even on a recent weekday morning, the large gallery space was bustling with visitors. On my way out, I was trampled by a group of ninth-graders, eager to make their way inside.


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A photo of Amy Winehouse from the exhibition. Photo by Mark Okoh


A fairly large sign at the entrance publicizes names of some 10 sponsors of the exhibition, some of them commercial entities. One could be cruel and point out the irony in the fact that one of them is the popular Guinness beer brand, considering the circumstances of Winehouse’s death. Prominently mentioned at the show is also the fact after the singer’s death, her family established a foundation dedicated to raising awareness of the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse among young people.

If anyone had preconceived notions about Beit Hatfutsoth as a stogy, irrelevant institution, the Winehouse show offers a good opportunity to say that in recent years, the museum's exhibitions have reflected genuine contemporary awareness. Indeed, the major current exhibition at the museum, “Mazal U'Bracha” (“Good Fortune and a Blessing”), also gives the impression of being a show with its finger on the pulse.

Along with my praise for Beit Hatfutsoth for its willingness to host a British "invader" of the highest order, featuring the most trivial details of pop culture and completely lacking any national-official aura – I might be perceived as the responsible adult when it comes to this particular exhibition, taking issue with it not being sufficiently "official" or detached.

The bottom line is that this is a shrine to Winehouse, of the kind that mainly recalls homemade shrines created by Elvis Presley fans that you might come upon in remote places in the American heartland. It is apparent that the people at Beit Hatfutsoth felt a bit uncomfortable mounting an exhibition in which the major displays are clothing that Amy wore, her guitar, records from her private collection, a Camden Town station Tube ticket she used on May 5, 2000, and – I kid you not – half a display case of her refrigerator magnets.

There is some reference to the musical talent on her father’s side of the family, including a quote from the singer herself when she was 13. At the time, she said that unlike her father, she wanted to do something with her talent and not just sing in the office as he did.


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A photo of Amy Winehouse from the exhibition. Photo by Courtesy of Charles Moriarty


Full of fingerprints

But no historical context about the interesting if not unusual story of her family, reflected in the displays, can downplay the fact that this is a consecrated site commemorating Winehouse's life. That's pretty cool, but one does expect a respected museum to provide a broader context.

The seeming discomfort of the staff also finds expression in the fact that, indeed, an introductory accompanying exhibit has also been created by them, entitled “From the East End to Golders Green”: It is drawn from the museum’s permanent collection to provide a bit of background on the story of British Jewry between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. It offers a sort of balance to the Amy Winehouse displays, providing fitting background on the atmosphere of the earlier period without overwhelming the visitor with details. There is a representative and moving selection of photos, several surprising quotes, information on the hardships of the East End in 1904, and a video clip of the period.

This exhibit meshes beautifully with Winehouse’s family tree, the descriptions of the singer’s fantastic grandmother, and the depiction of the singer's London and of her family over the years; there is also reference to the fact that her father drove a black English taxi. Also on show are great childhood pictures from the 1980s, reflecting the stereotypical geeky awkwardness of Jewish life in England. This doesn’t have to be stated explicitly, because the melodrama of the routine background from which an over-the-top, enduring gem like Winehouse came finds expression between the lines.

There are some amazing biting, witty quotes from Winehouse’s youth on the walls of the gallery, in the star’s own handwriting. They may be kitschy or emotionally manipulative, but again, this is a shrine to a pop idol. This is the aesthetic language and emotional tone of such a site, and turning your nose up at it simply shows a lack of understanding of the fact that this is not an exhibit that is removed or reserved when it comes to its subject, for even a moment.


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A photo of Amy Winehouse from the exhibition. Photo by Charles Moriarty


What the hell. There is a special display featuring a suitcase of scattered family pictures, which the accompanying text explains that Winehouse opened with her father a few days before her death. I pressed my face right up to the display window to see Amy’s guitar from as close as possible. It’s full of her fingerprints. Amy actually touched it. You feel chillingly close to her. It’s almost as if she is there.

Where I really begin to tear up, of course, was next to the case displaying devoted her record collection – from the Mickey Mouse Club recording of her childhood to the inevitable Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe, Thelonious Monk, Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder.

What really got me was a Sarah Vaughn album. I don’t actually like most of that music, but this album was purchased at the immortal second-hand Music Exchange record store in Notting Hill. It still had the sticker on it that the store used on albums whose prices were lowered by a pound sterling every month the recording remained unsold. (It cost Winehouse 3 pounds). Standing there in front of the album, I imagined the singer picking it up, flipping through the store’s merchandise as I myself did innumerable times.

I had the sense that I almost knew her as I recalled her amazing voice, which visitors to the exhibition hear only at the end. (Instead, the soundtrack of the exhibit features a playlist of Winehouse’s own favorite songs, which she herself prepared.) It was when I once again recalled that she is no longer with us that tears welled up in my eyes.


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Amy Winehouse's record collection. Photo by Courtesy of Jewish Museum London


Little Jewish girl

For his part, Alex Winehouse, the singer’s brother, wrote that the exhibition is not a shrine or memorial to his sister. Amy may have been the most famous member of his family, he explained, but as the visitor will see, she was not at the center of the family. No one was. And the exhibit is also not an attempt to portray who his sister was, he wrote, but rather to paint a portrait of a young woman who was first of all a little Jewish girl from North London who had a lot of talent.

I don’t think that the fact that the exhibition is actually a shrine conflicts at all with Alex’s nice comments, nor does it show that he was mistaken. Maybe he was, but that is something that could be expected when one considers the celebrity culture. And in this context, the show succeeds in its ability to maintain a feeling of intimacy, of family, that is not diminished despite all the fetishism over the things that Amy touched.

It is also worth noting another success with respect to avoiding the biggest trap that one might have expected from such an exhibition: There is no reference at all to Winehouse’s death, either visual or textual. Nor is there mention of the self-destructive behavior that led to it; the heartbreaking, embarrassing performances that she gave in a catatonic state; or the relationships that were destroyed along the way.

The exhibition may arouse reflexive left-wing criticism over censorship, over fudging of reality and being in denial, over the contradiction between the Winehouse Foundation’s pretensions of raising awareness of the problems that killed Amy and their total absence in the exhibition. And there are other lapses, for example: the lack of any attention to Winehouse’s transition from anonymity to stardom.

On second thought, however, I would justify the absence of anything attesting to Winehouse’s destructive behavior and pitiful state. The exhibition maintains its loving, intimate, restrained, family-oriented tone. The work of the Winehouse Foundation is being carried out, I imagine, among young people who really need its help. There is an interest here in respecting the departed and in an entirely justified avoidance of the voyeuristic snuff film culture, with its depictions of death. Indeed, there is no reason for such things to be shown at an exhibition mounted by the family. It’s also understandable that along the way, it makes it easy for Beit Hatfutsot to draw record numbers of visitors with a display that is suitable for the entire family.


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A Grammy award won by Amy Winehouse in 2011 for Best Pop duo / Group performance for her performance with US singer Tony Bennett is displayed at the 'Amy Winehouse A Family Portrait' exhibition. Photo by Aviv Hofi


The spirit of the times requiring that an exhibition has to be critical or oppositional is anachronistic. Similar events that have gone in that direction and have used oppositional approaches have bordered on parody. In the case of the Winehouse show, a critical piece dealing “frankly and courageously” with her self-destruction would have destroyed the exhibition and turned it into a voyeuristic, necrophilic display.


http://www.haaretz.c...remium-1.623042
 


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Amy, if you are up there listening, thank you for sharing the incredible soundtracks of your life ...

#100 TakeTheBox03

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Posted 28 January 2024 - 01:29 PM

http://www.jewishmuseum.org.uk/Amy

http://www.jewishmus...reset=contentpg

Temporary exhibition

Amy Winehouse: a family portrait

3 July – 15 September 2013

Click here to book online now!
The Jewish Museum is staging an original exhibition about Amy Winehouse, co-curated with her brother Alex and sister-in-law Riva. It is an intimate and moving exhibition about a much loved sister.
The family have given the Jewish Museum unprecedented access to Amy’s personal belongings that celebrate her passion for music, fashion, suduko, Snoopy, London and her family.
Amy was close to her family and had a strong sense of her Jewish roots and heritage. The exhibition will show many unseen photographs of Amy’s family life - Friday night dinners, Alex’s Barmitzvah and vintage photographs of their beloved grandmother Cynthia.
Located in Amy's Camden Town, the Jewish Museum is the perfect place to find out about the woman behind the music and beyond the hype.

---------- Post added at 02:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:26 PM ----------

There's an article in the Evening standard as well

winehouse.jpg

The family of Amy Winehouse is hoping to re-claim her as a typical north London Jewish girl in a new exhibition.

Older brother Alex Winehouse and his wife, Riva, are collaborating with the Jewish Museum in Camden and giving unprecedented access to Amy’s belongings including the guitar he taught her to play on, her record and books collection and a vintage bar from her former home.

The show, which comes in what would have been her 30th year, will also include family photographs such as her brother’s barmitzvah ceremony, Friday night dinners and grandmother Cynthia who was a major style influence on Amy and was the subject of the tattoo on her arm.

Alex Winehouse said: “Amy was someone who was incredibly proud of her Jewish-London roots. Whereas other families would go to the seaside on a sunny day, we’d always go down to the East End. That was who we were and what we were.
“We weren’t religious, but we were traditional. I hope, in this most fitting of places, that the world gets to see this other side not just to Amy, but to our typical Jewish family.”

Abigail Morris, the museum’s chief executive, said it was fitting they told her story. “Amy Winehouse was an immensely talented, iconic and inspirational singer and she was a Jewish girl from north London.”

The idea for the show was sparked when the family offered the museum one of Amy’s dresses and talks began.
Ms Morris said some of the loans were very moving, such as her uniform from the Sylvia Young Theatre School and a Jewish cookbook. “She was very keen on making chicken soup. She would make it for her security guards.”

Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait will run from July 3 to September 15. Admission to the museum, including free entry to the show, is £7.50 for adults.

http://www.standard....on-8611059.html

---------- Post added at 02:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:28 PM ----------

And in the Jewish Chronicle

amy-winehouse-tickets.jpg
The Jewish Museum exhibition includes previously unseen photos and memorabilia (Photo: the Jewish Museum)

read the full article here:
http://www.thejc.com...use-family-girl

And in Vogue:
http://www.vogue.co....useum-in-camden

wish i was there...


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